


Crossing the bar

by eiramew



Category: Prey (Video Game 2017), Prey Mooncrash
Genre: Blood, F/F, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 19:06:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15443802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eiramew/pseuds/eiramew
Summary: The blood, the dark, viscous matter exploding everywhere, the human guts and the typhon organs.Riley makes a quick prayer before pressing the button.Pointless.Space is always silent.





	Crossing the bar

**Author's Note:**

> This fic tells the story of Riley deciding to blow up the lab to prevent the typhon from spreading more.  
> This poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson is one of my personal favourite and means a lot to me.

**...**

**_Sunset and evening star,  
And one clear call for me!_ **  
**_And may there be no moaning of the bar,_ **  
_**When I put out to sea** , _

**...**

The blood, the dark, viscous matter exploding everywhere, the human guts and the typhon organs. The deafening hiss of the bullets cutting through the air and the sickening sound of them tearing through skin and muscles. The ache in her fingers from pressing the trigger and reloading fast. Her uneven breath as she places the detonator on the lab door; the painful taste of acid bile on her lips. 

No time to think, she grabs a helmet and runs to the crater.

Riley makes a quick prayer before pressing the button.

She instinctively tries to cover her ears. 

Pointless.

Space is always silent. 

**...**

**_But such a tide as moving seems asleep,_**  
**_Too full for sound and foam,_**  
**_When that which drew from out the boundless deep_**  
**_Turns again home._**

**_..._**

The bright, dazzling explosion yells at her in silence before vanishing in the fake moon sky. Riley staggers a few steps back and realises her mistake. She can already feel the moonshark rumbling beneath the rocks, but something screams at her to move fast. It comes from her stomach and for the first seconds, Riley has to fight to catch her breath. Never,  _ever_ has she used her guts to think a situation. But her brain is as fried as the lab she just blew up, so she grits her teeth and reload her gun. 

It doesn't leave her a lot of time, the moonshark is already on her. 

Riley takes the shot out of fear and it seems to keep it at bay long enough for her to discover a massive typhon organism floating above her. She aims and pulls the trigger but it doesn't seem to work. The telepath moves up and she discovers with horror that no less than five mind-controlled employees are now running towards her.

"Stay back!" Riley yells, aiming at anyone getting closer

Someone, a man from moonworks it seems, runs straight to her and there's nothing she can do for him. His head blows up the moment he reaches her, leaving a huge trail of blood on her uniform.

Fear in her mind but stamina under her belt. Her brain isn't responding anymore, so she just heads straight for the crew annex.

**...**  
  
**_Twilight and evening bell,_  
** _**And after that the dark!**  
__**And may there be no sadness of farewell,  
**__**When I embark;**_

**...**

Claire immediately goes for her stun gun as she hears noise from the stairs, but when she recognises her boss, she lowers it.

Riley drops her shotgun on the floor, half her body is covered in blood. Not hers, at least that is what Claire wants to think. And the tears start to fall from those dry and cold eyes, and Claire knows the pain. She understands why Riley dropped the gun now. The blood is mixing with her tears, leaving smeared marks on her face and dripping from her chin.  

Claire can't help but admire how beautiful Riley is at this very moment. All that despair and anger that washed her eyes with the most violent waves of emotions, bringing those forbidden tears Riley had sworn never to show again. Claire frames this painful image and stores it in her mind, to remember, always. 

Riley falls on her knees but Claire catches her right on time. 

  
**...**

_**For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place** _  
_**The flood may bear me far,** _  
_**I hope to see my Pilot face to face** _  
_**When I have crost the bar.** _

**...**

 

Riley cries on her shoulder, cries in her neck and against her cheek. And there is nothing to do about it. Clean the wounds - both physical and mental - and wait for it to blow over. 

She knows Riley has seen death,  _hers,_ with her own two eyes. Claire had known loss as well in the past, but she knows that seeing your own death coming at you with such violence and might is an other and unreachable experience.

There is nothing to do about it, but Claire will do anything to soothe this pain.

She grabs Riley's face with both hands and forces her to look up. 

She sees the unspoken agony in those eyes, and when it becomes too painful to bear, she dives into it and kisses her with all her might.

Space has a taste ; and it's on Riley's lips, mixing up with the feral taste of the blood and the acid salt of the tears. 

Claire's hands gradually move around her shoulders while Riley's nails dig deep in her ribcage, but she doesn't mind.

One day all this will be behind them. 

If they get out of alive.

One day they might get their twilight after this endless darkness. 

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a full version of the poem:  
>  _Sunset and evening star,_  
>  _And one clear call for me!_  
>  _And may there be no moaning of the bar,_  
>  _When I put out to sea,_  
>   
>  _But such a tide as moving seems asleep,_  
>  _Too full for sound and foam,_  
>  _When that which drew from out the boundless deep_  
>  _Turns again home._  
>   
>  _Twilight and evening bell,_  
>  _And after that the dark!_  
>  _And may there be no sadness of farewell,_  
>  _When I embark;_  
>   
>  _For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place_  
>  _The flood may bear me far,_  
>  _I hope to see my Pilot face to face_  
>  _When I have crost the bar._


End file.
